Bam Aquino asks Pope to pray for PH amid challenges of injustice

“Sabi ko (I said), ‘Holy Father, I have some letters from our religious leaders in the Philippines. Our country needs your prayers,'” Aquino said. (Photo: Bam Aquino/Instagram)

Senator Paolo Benigno “Bam” Aquino IV asked for Pope Francis’s prayers for the Philippines and its people as the country is facing challenges of “injustice and suffering.”

Aquino, who went to Rome as the country’s representative to the ninth annual meeting of the International Catholic Legislators Network (ICLN), shared his experience of meeting the Catholic leader in an Instagram post on Thursday, August 23.

The opposition senator said he was ‘worried’ that he would not be able to hand to Pope Francis the letters from Bro. Armin Luistro of the Purple Cross Movement, but God gave him a chance.

“Sabi ko (I said), ‘Holy Father, I have some letters from our religious leaders in the Philippines. Our country needs your prayers,'” Aquino said.

“He smiled back, took the letters and blessed me and the rosary I had in my hand, he added.

One of the letters that he gave to the Pontiff, the senator said, was asking him to pray that “the violence in our country comes to an end and for the welfare of the widows and orphans left by the drug war.”

Recalling the Pope’s message to Catholic and Christain legislators, Aquino said Christian politicians are specially called “with humility and courage to bear witness to their faith.”

“Pope Francis asked us to fight for the last, the least, and the lost, ang laylayan, ika nga (those on the edge, they say),” Aquino said, interpreting Pope Francis’ message.

“Kung totoong nananampalataya ka, dapat walang kang takot na manindigan para sa Diyos at para sa ating mga kababayan (If you are a true believer, you should not be afraid to stand out for God and for our fellow Filipinos). Against all odds, in humility and courage,” he added.

Aquino then said he was ‘overwhelmed’ and had mixed emotions after he met the Catholic leader.

The senator also met with Pope Francis in 2017 where he also asked him to pray for the Philippines, adding that the Pontiff’s message of mercy and compassion in his last visit to the country filled Aquino’s heart.